7 competitors are going to be diving to between 100 and 105 meters tomorrow. This is outstanding because it was in 2004 when Carlos Coste set the world record at 102m breaking through the 100 m mark. Good Luck Everyone!
Month: November 2009
Glowing Rope
Something new at this competition is the use of a glow in the dark rope for the competition line. Because the blue hole has only has a 20m opening at the surface light fades quickly beyond 50m. So the glowing rope gives the athelete a point of reference. Even though the rope glows for many hours after being recharged we still pull the line up every 1.5 hours to recharge it on the platform.
Counter Ballest System
We mentioned earlier that we would talk about other safety systems being used here at the world championship. To explain the counter ballest system we first need to explain that in Freedive depth events an athelete swims down to a preanounced depth. At that depth is what we call a bottom plate. Attached to that bottom plate are tags that the freediver is to retrieve. Under the bottom plate is a 20Kg weight, a light and a bottom camera to record the performance. The rope that attaches to the bottom plate is premeasured while wet and under stress. Markers are placed on the rope so that the rope can easily be moved up and down to the announced depth. In this case the rope runs through two blocks at the surface and off the back of the platform. The rope that is off the oposite side of the platform has a 40Kg weight so that if the rope is released from the clam cleats on the platform the heavy 40Kg weight will sink and will pull the bottom plate to the surface. Because the athelete is attached to the competition line with a 1m lanyard the diver will also be pulled to the surface. The setup here is really nice because a lot of rope is exposed to the surface and during our trial activation 4 people helped the rope run in the direction of the counter ballest significantly increasing it’s speed. Briging a diver to the surface at about 1.5 m/s.
Pictures by Igor Liberti
Igor Liberti is the official photographer of the 2009 AIDA World Campioships. He has generously sent me some proofs to share with our readers. If you are interested in his work please check out www.apnea.ch
A Clean Day of Competition
A great day of diving today. All competitors had clean dives but two of them turned early due to equalization trouble. Jana Strain, Canada’s only Female competitor did a 54m CWT (Constant WeighT with fins) dive today. She had anounced 62m but turned early. If Jana reached 62m she would have made it to the final. We look forward to seeing her in the finals in the CNF (Constant weight No Fins) catigory.
Good Luck Jana!
New Canadian Depth Record
William Winram does it again!
William has broken the Canadian CNF (Constant weight No Fins) record this afternoon (Nov 28, 2009). Will push the depth record down to 80m (267 feet). Amazing. Congratulation Will.
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First day of competition
Today the competition started with women’s CNF (Constant Weight No Fins). CNF means that the freediver swims down to a target depth without fins and return to the surface with whatever weight they took down with then. Usually about 4-6 lbs of lead to help overcome the buoyancy of their wetsuit at the surface.
There were 13 women who dove today to depths between 21 m – 55 meters.
The safety team started at 8am today, setting up the bottom plate and camera system, getting the oxygen and training lines ready. We had a great competition, with no accidents and all competitors returned safely to the beach. A few of the athletes attempted personal bests and there was a few black outs, but all athletes started breathing without needing assistance from the doctor.
At 2pm the competition ended, but the safety team stayed around and dove on the line. We used the weight to pull us down, so we don’t have to use our tired legs. We also pulled down the roped and Aaron and Martin both achieved new depth personal bests.
The day ended with safetying a few of the athletes who came out to train. We did this for a few hours and then back to the house for something to eat before the committee meeting where all the athletes, judges and organizers talk about the day. There were no major complaints or concerns today, so the meeting didn’t take to long. Now back to the house for food and recharge our batteries.
Another great day in Bahamas.
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We have posted more pictures on www.enjoyfreediving.com under the Safety Team 2009 sub menu.
Last training day
Today was the last training day which is nice for the safety team. On the two official training days we spend a lot of time in the water. I had 58 dives yesterday and I know Phil had 78, and the rest of the team had equal amount of dives. Today we were in the water for 7 hours of safetying and one more for testing our safety procedures.
My hands and feet have blisters and we are all sun burnt and tired, but it has been two great days. All the competitors are very friendly and generally seem happy about us being there to make them safe.
We had several impressive dives today and a lot of the competitors make freediving look so easy.
We tested the counter ballast system (safety system) and did a simulated rescue from 25 meters to show the judges that we were able to handle this. Even after a long day it all went as planned.
No pictures posted today, because it is time to go home to eat and then it will be early bedtime tonight. The ladies start diving in the competition.
Opening Ceremonies
58 competitors represeting 17 countries attended the opening cermonies this evening. Two films crews, one from Japan and one from The Underwater Channel based in the US recorded the event. Many speaches were made and the overall feeling of the event was great. Our group has been treated so well by the Bahamians. This kind of hospitality is rare.
It looks like each one of us will spend at least 7 hours in the water tomorrow. This looks like it will be the last of the long safety days. During the competition days I think the amount of time we spend in the water will be closer to 4 hours. But there will still be all the other responsiblities including hauling safety equipment, daily reviews as a team a the Event commity meetings. Finally planning for the next day and blogging ;-).
We have posted more pictures on www.enjoyfreediving.com under the Safety Team 2009 sub menu.
Official training starts tomorrow
We haven’t had internet access until tonight and don’t want to get to bed too late, but wanted to post some of the photos we have taken. Official training starts tomorrow and we will be in the water tomorrow from 8:30 to 15:30 then it will be off to the Opening Cerimonies. We better get some sleep.
This is a picture of Dean’s Blue Hole which show how nice our office is tomorrow:
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/n9YxBMnKzwg&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1]
We have posted more pictures on www.enjoyfreediving.com under the Safety Team 2009 sub menu.